Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Belgium’s Elise Mertens on Friday advanced to the semi-finals at the Birmingham Viking Classic after defeating Naiktha Bains of Britain and Tereza Martincova of the Czech Republic.
The top seeds in doubles took down the pair 6-2, 6-4 in a match played after a rain delay.
They were yesterday to face Ons Jabeur of Tunisia and Ellen Perez of Australia.
Photo: Reuters
Other quarter-final matches at the grass-court tournament were canceled due to rain.
Two Czech players were scheduled to compete yesterday, with eighth-seeded Marie Bouzkova facing CoCo Vandeweghe of the US, and Tereza Martincova taking on fourth-seeded Daria Kasatkina of Russia.
Second-seeded Jabeur was to face Anastasia Potapova of Russia, and third-seeded Donna Vekic of Croatia was up against local favorite Heather Watson.
Vandeweghe, a former top 10 player, reached two Grand Slam semi-finals in 2017 and twice has been a quarter-finalist at Wimbledon.
She earned her first tour-level, main-draw victory in nearly two years on Monday by beating Kristyna Pliskova in straight sets.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
SEMI-FINAL SWEEP: Taiwanese are to take up all four berths in the men’s doubles semi-finals, while three Taiwanese women’s doubles pairings secured spots Taiwan’s badminton ace Chou Tien-chen stayed hot as he secured a semi-final berth in the men’s singles at the US Open at Council Bluffs, Iowa, on Friday. Chou entered the Super 300 tournament as the top seed and breezed past Victor Lai of Canada 21-19, 21-8 in 37 minutes, advancing to the semi-finals for the second straight tournament. Earlier this month, the 35-year-old veteran finished runner-up at the Indonesia Open, becoming the oldest male shuttler to reach a Super 1000-level final. He was set to face Ayush Shetty of India last night after press time for a spot in the final. Meanwhile, 22-year-old Taiwanese
Spain are the favorites to win the UEFA Women’s Euro 2025, but star player Aitana Bonmati’s illness ahead of the tournament raises another question mark around a side which, despite their obvious quality, are not unstoppable. Having claimed the last two Ballon d’Or awards, Barcelona midfielder Bonmati is the game’s biggest star at present, so her absence in the final days before the start of Euro 2025 is a major setback. The 27-year-old came down with a fever in training last week, and was subsequently hospitalized and diagnosed with viral meningitis. Bonmati was discharged on Sunday and joined up with
RSS